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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Police in New York state may soon have a high-tech way of catching texting drivers: a device known as a "textalyzer" that allows an officer to quickly check if a phone has been in use before a crash."Despite laws to ban cellphone use while driving, some motorists still continue to insist on texting behind the wheel — placing themselves and others at substantial risk," Cuomo said in a statement first reported by The Associated Press.Digital privacy and civil liberties groups already have questioned whether the technology's use would violate personal privacy, noting that police can already obtain search warrants if they believe information on a private phone could be useful in a prosecution.Many security experts are skeptical when it comes to promises that the textalyzer would only access information about phone usage, and not personal material, according to Rainey Reitman, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for civil liberties when it comes to digital technology.The committee will hear from supporters and opponents of the technology, law enforcement officials and legal experts before issuing a report, Cuomo's office said.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly two tons of trinkets, statues and jewelry crafted from the tusks of at least 100 slaughtered elephants are heading for a rock crusher in New York City's Central Park to demonstrate the state's commitment to smashing the illegal ivory trade.[...] state environmental officials, who are partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Tiffany & Co. for Thursday's "Ivory Crush," say no price justifies slaughtering elephants for their tusks.Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instituted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial ivory trade and barred sales across state lines.Since August 2014, New York law has prohibited the sale, purchase, trade or distribution of anything made from elephant or mammoth ivory or rhinoceros horn, except in limited situations with state approval.The World Wildlife Fund says the illegal wildlife trade not only threatens animal populations, but also endangers national security by funding terrorist cells.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is pressing TransUnion and Experian to explain what cybersecurity they have in place to protect sensitive consumer information following a recent breach at Equifax that exposed the data of 143 million Americans.In letters to executives at the two credit monitoring companies, the Democratic attorney general asked them to describe their existing security systems as well as what changes they've made since the Equifax cyberattack."The unprecedented data breach experienced by Equifax Inc.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York state agency launched four years ago to protect the disabled from abuse and neglect was staffed with a team of investigators and prosecutors empowered to bring criminal cases against alleged wrongdoers. But it lacked one key thing, according to three recent court rulings: the legal authority to actually prosecute anyone.That has potentially put dozens of convictions in jeopardy and threatens to undermine the mission of the agency, known as the Justice Center, to protect the 1 million disabled, addicted and mentally ill in state care.